J.D. Martinez and 10 Under-the-Radar MLB Free Agents Still Available
It's been awfully quiet on MLB's free-agent market since 2024 gave way to 2025. Even Alex Bregman, Pete Alonso and Jack Flaherty are still looking for work.
But since they'll be fine, let's instead shine a light on free agents who, though intriguing, have gotten nary a peep on the rumor mill.
We have 10 players to get to, all of whom are veterans who either deserve more love after what they did in 2024 or have more gas left in the tank than one would think. None of them is likely to strike it rich, but it would be a shame if any of them didn't find major league work.
We'll check these guys off in alphabetical order.
RHP Kyle Finnegan
1 of 10
Age: 33
2024 Stats: 65 G, 63.2 IP, 61 H (9 HR), 60 K, 24 BB, 3.68 ERA
Why He's Worth Signing
In Kyle Finnegan's wake is an All-Star season in which he was third in the majors with 38 saves. Unfortunately for him, he's also fresh off getting non-tendered.
In defense of the Washington Nationals, Finnegan's projected $8.6 million salary would have been steep for a guy who doesn't have much to boast of besides saves and All-Star creds. To have a closer with a below-average whiff rate and dismal contact metrics is a bad idea.
Still, whatever team picks Finnegan up will have plenty to work with.
He averaged 97.2 mph on his fastball in 2024, so his arm is clearly of the "live" variety. It's also no accident that he tends to have reverse splits, as his split-finger fastball has held lefty batters to an average in the .100s in four of his five seasons.
Finnegan lacks a reliable outpitch against righties, where the work would need to be done. Either his slider needs to get a better shape, or he needs to scrap it in favor of the best weapon a righty pitcher can have versus righty batters: a sweeper.
Prediction: Signs with Chicago Cubs
LHP Andrew Heaney
2 of 10
Age: 33
2024 Stats: 32 G, 31 GS, 160.0 IP, 159 H (23 HR), 159 K, 41 BB, 4.28 ERA
Why He's Worth Signing
When the Texas Rangers signed Andrew Heaney in 2022, he came off a performance that didn't seem remotely sustainable.
So, go figure that he didn't sustain it. After fanning 13.6 batters per nine innings for the Los Angeles Dodgers during the '22 campaign, the lefty struck out 9.1 per nine in two seasons as Ranger. He had a 4.22 ERA, translating to a slightly subpar 98 ERA+.
Here's what makes Heaney interesting, though: Across 2023 and 2024, he ate more innings than Gerrit Cole, Jack Flaherty, Sean Manaea, Michael Wacha and Jordan Montgomery.
This ought not to be a small deal at a time when workhorse starters are basically going extinct. And it's not as if Heaney figures to be especially costly. FanGraphs has him down for a repeat of the two-year, $25 million deal he got from the Rangers two winters ago.
Heaney won't be a run-prevention machine in the innings he pitches, but at least he won't be beating himself if he carries over his walk rate from 2024. It was in the 83rd percentile.
Prediction: Signs with Athletics
INF Jose Iglesias
3 of 10
Age: 35
2024 Stats: 85 G, 291 PA, 4 HR, 6 SB, .337 AVG, .381 OBP, .448 SLG
Why He's Worth Signing
The next time you think you have a hot take, just remember that Nick Castellanos stumped for Jose Iglesias for NL MVP over Shohei Ohtani:
The funny thing is that there's a kernel of truth here. The New York Mets went 52-33 in games where Iglesias appeared last year. They went 37-40 otherwise.
Maybe it was the whole "OMG" thing, but let's also grant that Iglesias graced the Mets with some pretty good baseball. Last year was the fourth time he's hit over .300 as at least a semi-regular. He otherwise remains a steady presence in the middle of the infield.
Iglesias just turned 35 on January 5, so it's hard to count on him repeating his on-field performance from last season even if it wasn't also an outlier relative to his whole career. As such, whatever team signs him may be prioritizing vibes above all.
Then again, why not? Because in this case, it's not as if trying to catch lightning in a bottle will be an especially costly endeavor.
Prediction: Re-signs with Mets
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OF Ramón Laureano
4 of 10
Age: 30
2024 Stats: 98 G, 309 PA, 11 HR, 8 SB, .259 AVG, .311 OBP, .437 SLG
Why He's Worth Signing
Speaking of lightning in a bottle, Ramón Laureano has gone on quite the journey over the last year and a half.
In August 2023, he went from the Athletics to the Cleveland Guardians via waivers. Cleveland released him in May 2024, and then he went on to become one of the best hitters on the Atlanta Braves.
Most of the good stuff happened after Laureano returned from an oblique strain on July 21, as he went on to hit .304 and slug .514 for the rest of the year. He went fastball hunting, with August and September accounting for plus-7 of his plus-8 run value against four-seamers.
The easy adjustment for pitchers in 2025 would be to stop throwing Laureano fastballs. Yet it's to his credit that he's gotten good at picking fastballs out from a lineup, as it were. He saw only 28.1 percent four-seamers in 2024, tied for the lowest rate of his career.
He's, therefore, worth a shot for a team in need of outfield depth. And if nothing else, it'll always be fun for fans to watch him throw the ball.
Prediction: Signs with Colorado Rockies
RHP José Leclerc
5 of 10
Age: 31
2024 Stats: 64 G, 66.2 IP, 56 H (7 HR), 89 K, 32 BB, 4.32 ERA
Why He's Worth Signing
José Leclerc has been a major leaguer for eight seasons, and at no point has his stock been steady.
His highs include ERAs in the 1.00s or 2.00s in 2018, 2022 and 2023, the last of which ended with him winning a World Series ring with the Rangers. The lows include a season lost to Tommy John surgery in 2021 and what was a largely forgettable year in 2024.
One less-than-awesome constant for Leclerc has been the free pass. It says a lot that last year was actually one of his better moments in this regard, as he's walked 5.0 batters per nine innings for his career.
The swing-and-miss stuff is there when Leclerc is right, however, and even more so than usual in 2024. His 36.0 whiff rate fell in the 96th percentile, with righties in particular feeling his wrath to the tune of a 36.3 strikeout percentage.
As Leclerc was likewise in the 96th percentile with his hard-hit rate, his profile remains that of a guy who is just no fun to hit against. He's well worth a flier on a low-risk deal.
Prediction: Signs with St. Louis Cardinals
RHP Lance Lynn
6 of 10
Age: 37
2024 Stats: 23 GS, 117.1 IP, 113 H (16 HR), 109 K, 44 BB, 3.84 ERA
Why He's Worth Signing
It's Lance Lynn. You know who he is. He's a two-time All-Star who has been around forever.
But at this point, he also seems to be over the hill. He had a 5.73 ERA in 2023 and even his improvement in 2024 wasn't exactly consistent. Last year was a near-constant battle between him and his right knee.
On the plus side, at least Lynn got his fastball to come back to life.
After sinking to minus-9 in 2023, the run value on the veteran's four-seamer shot back up to plus-16 last season. It helped that he was able to get more spin on it, going from 2,424 RPM in 2023 to 2,454 RPM in 2024.
As for that bothersome knee, Lynn saw the writing on the wall and told Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic that he dropped 20 pounds this winter. If that leads to better health in 2025, he could be a valuable source of innings.
Prediction: Signs with Washington Nationals
DH J.D. Martinez
7 of 10
Age: 37
2024 Stats: 120 G, 495 PA, 16 HR, 0 SB, .235 AVG, .320 OBP, .406 SLG
Why He's Worth Signing
It's J.D. Martinez. You know who he is, too.
You might also know that his 2024 season with the Mets ended poorly. He was January-cold from August 4 to the end of the year, batting just .166 with four home runs. Come the NLCS, he was out of a job.
Yet despite it all, Martinez still landed in the following percentiles with key batted-ball metrics:
- 46.1 Hard-Hit Percentage: 77th
- 91.0 MPH Exit Velocity: 78th
- 14.9 Barrel Percentage: 94th
It's enough to wonder if Martinez underachieved overall and that the only thing he was guilty of with his lousy finish was bad timing. A team with a need at DH should try to find out, provided they can allow the veteran to go ring-chasing.
Prediction: Signs with San Diego Padres
LHP A.J. Minter
8 of 10
Age: 31
2024 Stats: 39 G, 34.1 IP, 24 H (6 HR), 35 K, 11 BB, 2.62 ERA
Why He's Worth Signing
A.J. Minter had a good run with the Braves between 2017 and 2024, but his final results for last season obscure some less-than-good developments.
His season ended early when he had surgery on his left hip in August. Even before that, his fastball velocity was down from an average of 95.8 mph in 2023 to just 94.5 mph. His strikeout rate likewise dropped from 31.5 to 26.1.
Then again, what if that was the hip's doing?
Minter first started battling his left hip in late May, and it was afterward that things took a turn for the worse. Prior to the battle, his fastball was averaging 94.9 mph and his strikeout rate was 27.7 percent.
It's possible that a full recovery of Minter's hip will mean a full recovery of his stuff and the ability to miss bats. A contender needing a reliable left-handed reliever should want to find out.
Prediction: Signs with Cincinnati Reds
DH Justin Turner
9 of 10
Age: 40
2024 Stats: 139 G, 539 PA, 11 HR, 0 SB, .259 AVG, .354 OBP, .383 SLG
Why He's Worth Signing
Here's another "you know who this is" guy. Justin Turner has been in the big leagues since 2009 and on Earth for four decades.
Alas, the power surge that initially catapulted him to stardom with the Dodgers in 2014 finally ran out of steam in 2024. His .383 slugging percentage was his worst since 2011, not to mention below even last year's surprisingly low league norm of .399.
Yet Turner remained a relatively productive hitter. That was mostly a matter of working good at-bats, to a point where he was among the top 16 among qualified hitters for walk-to-strikeout ratio.
The other quality Turner still brings to the table is his clubhouse presence. He's obviously been around for a while and he's accustomed to playing for winners. Since 2014, he's ended a season with a losing team just once.
Even though they fell short of the playoffs, the Seattle Mariners purportedly benefited from Turner's leadership in the last two months of 2024. They should know what they'd be missing if they don't bring Turner back.
Prediction: Re-signs with Mariners
DH Jesse Winker
10 of 10
Age: 31
2024 Stats: 145 G, 508 PA, 14 HR, 14 SB, .253 AVG, .360 OBP, .405 SLG
Why He's Worth Signing
Jesse Winker got a little lost in the wilderness in 2022 and 2023.
In the former year, he had a season in Seattle that wasn't just rough merely where his stats were concerned. In the latter, he did largely nothing in 61 games with the Milwaukee Brewers.
All this was apparently a wake-up call for Winker. He spent the 2023-24 offseason getting in better shape, and it ultimately allowed him to get back to doing what he does best.
That would be crush right-handed pitching. Winker hit 13 of his 14 homers against righties in 2024, with an OPS against them that was 222 points higher than the one he managed in 2023.
Winker still isn't hitting the ball as hard as he was in 2020 and 2021, but that's not the worst thing so long as he remains a tough out. To this end, he finished 2024 on an especially high note by posting a .531 OBP in the playoffs for the Mets.
Prediction: Signs with Kansas City Royals
Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.
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